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Dafney Harper

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

I can hardly believe that my sweet baby girl is TWO weeks old already. Seriously, where does the time go? Since I had a c-section, we were in the Hospital an extra day/night. Friday, December 16th we went home.

To be honest, I wasn't nervous - probably because I was SO tired. We didn't leave the Hospital until 4pm {it's a long story as to why we were discharged so late}. By the time we got home, it was time to feed Dafney. My parents were sweet enough to bring our dog home for us so she was there when we got home. And, of course, they stayed so they could see their grandbaby - thankfully, they didn't stay all that long.

It was nice to have a night at home with just the 4 of us {yes, I count our dog, Hannah}. Kyle & I just went through the 4 days of mail we had piled up, sat on the couch and watched a little TV and just stared at our daughter.

Unfortunately, Dafney didn't adjust well to her new crib the first night. She was up every 30-60 minutes...hello, exhaustion! I tried feeding her, changing her and just snuggling her. Needless to say, neither of us got much sleep that night.

The next morning, we had to bring Dafney in to see the Pediatrician as she had lost 10% of her body weight while in the Hospital and was down to 5lbs 8oz. So, we packed up the diaper bag, the babe and ourselves and headed to the Dr.'s office. We had been supplementing some formula all day Friday and through the night per the Dr.'s orders. When we brought her in on Saturday, she was up to 5lbs 12oz....YEAH!! He was confident that when my milk was in, she would eat like a champ and continue to gain weight.

However, to be sure he had me see a lactation specialist (she was great) and had us make another appointment for the following week. After the Dr. appointment we decided to stop at Target to get some groceries. We were true "first time parents" because we were trying to figure out how to put the car seat on the cart. We weren't sure how to do so, so we just put it in the big part of the cart and decided we didn't need thatmany groceries. Dafney slept the entire time!

That night my parents brought us dinner {really it was their excuse to come see Dafney...I know how they operate} and we had another low-key night at home.

That evening my c-section incision started to "leak", so I called the Dr. and she said it was better for the liquid to come out than stay inside and that I should come in on Monday just to have it looked at. It made me feel a little bit better that it was semi-normal to "leak"...the last thing I wanted was to have an infection or worse.

The second night we remembered something our instructor taught us in our parenting class...she said to use a heating pad in the crib so when you put the baby down to sleep, you're putting them onto something warm and it can help them stay asleep. Well, it worked! She slept so much better. I even had to wake her up to feed her once. Ever since, she's been a really good sleeper (KNOCK ON WOOD). She'll sleep anywhere from 2-4 hours at a time. Our pediatrician said not to let her go more than 5 hours since we're trying to get her to gain weight....I'm thankful for the sleep that I do get during the night.

Tuesday, December 20th was my first day alone with the babe. My Husband had to go back to work =( I was feeling all sorts of emotions. I was sad, nervous, and a little excited to be able to spend some QT with my baby. We made it through the day no problems! She slept most of the time and when she was awake we snuggled together on the couch. It's truly amazing!

The thing that I still struggle with is not being able to do things I've been used to doing, such as walking the dog. For the past 4 1/2 years, we've walked our dog almost everyday. I even cry because it is so hard to not be able to go with my Husband to walk Hannah. Unfortunately, with a c-section, I can't do anything other than leisurely walking for 6 whole weeks. I can't even carry the laundry basket up the stairs. It's tough. But, I know that I need to limit my activities so I properly heal.

Wow, I have so many more posts: Christmas, a guest post, and Dafney's 2nd week of life. I will try to get these posts done soon....but I sort of go by Dafney's schedule now =)

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

It all started on December 13th at 3:30am. I woke up instantly when I felt this weird cramp in my lower stomach. I thought I might need to "go to the bathroom" {if you know what I mean}, so I sat down on the toilet and a good amount of clear liquid came out. I though, "huh, that was weird". The thought of my water breaking crossed my mind, but I thought, nah it's too early. So, I went back to bed. 17 minutes later, I woke up again with another "weird cramp" and again figured I just needed to use the bathroom. And again, another "gush" of water came out, this time it was a pinkish color (sorry, TMI).

This time it hit me that my water probably broke and I was officially in labor. The weird thing was that I was really calm. I walked into the bedroom and woke up my Husband and said "I think my water broke, what should we do"? He told me to call the Dr., so I did. A couple minutes later, the Dr. called me back and I explained what had happened. She said it sounded like my water had indeed broken and that I should come in, bring my bags and plan on having a baby soon.

WOW, this was really happening...I told my Husband what she said and he said "do you mind if I jump in the shower quick?"; I told him it was fine, but to sort of hurry.

{I mean, I was in labor for gosh sakes}.

As he showered, I frantically ran around the house throwing things into our hospital bag, which I had only half packed thinking we had plenty of time to pack the rest that upcoming weekend.

The contractions were coming about every 8-9 minutes or so, but they were starting to feel intense enough to where I'd had to stop walking when I had one. But, it wasn't to bad. After my Husband showered, he had to send an email to his boss quick letting him know that he wouldn't be into work - by this time I was ready to go and I may have snapped at him for writing what seemed like a novel to his boss.

About 45 minutes after I had initially woken up, we were off to the Hospital. I don't remember the car ride all that well as the contractions were coming closer together and starting to intensify. By the time we got into the Hospital, checked in and into a room, my contractions were coming TWOminutes apart...and they FREAKING HURT.

Thankfully my amazing husband was there by my side and kept bringing me cold towels to put on my head (the pain was so intense I thought I was going to pass out...not what you want to do when you're about to birth a child).

My Nurse came in to see how far along I was and she found out the baby was breech. I sort of started to panic, because I just wanted to make sure my baby was okay. She said that I was already 5cm dilated and fully efaced. She said I was moving fast and we would need to have a c-section. She had another Nurse come into to confirm that baby was breech....she confirmed.

However, because I was progressing so fast, the Dr. wanted to make certain and had them do an ultrasound to make 100% certain that baby was butt down. Shortly after, the ultrasound came in and it showed the baby was breech (I don't really remember this because I was in so much pain). They said we'd be having a c-section, so I had to sign some forms. I have no clue what I was signing, or if I was even signing my name (seriously, for all I know, I could have been signing away my baby), but what seemed like hours and hours later, they finally wheeled me into the OR.

They had me sit up and let me tell you, when you're having contractions, sitting up is nearly impossible. But, I had to sit up so they could give me the spinal.

SPINAL=NO MORE PAIN....YES PLEASE!!!

FINALLY they gave me the spinal and I felt nothing...it was pretty much A-MAZING! I laid down and they brought in my Husband. It was a relief to see him. He sat down next to me and held my hand. And, before we knew it, we had our baby girl!

She was born at 7:33am. When I heard her cry it was by and far the most amazing sound I've ever heard in my entire life!

The worst part of a c-section is the fact that I couldn't hold my daughter right away or even see her. I could hear them say she weighed 6lbs 2 ounces and I could hear them talking to Kyle, but otherwise, I had no clue what was going on.

Kyle brought Dafney over to see me, but I could barely see her through all the tears {of JOY of course}. She looked perfect, but before I had a chance to stare at her every feature, Kyle took her out of the OR room into a recovery type room.

I had to lay there for another 45ish minutes while the Dr. put me back together. When they were done, they wheeled me into a recovery room next to where Kyle was. I could hear Kyle and hear Dafney crying and it was so tough not to see them.

Finally, the Nurse asked if I wanted to see Dafney and I said HELL"YES". So, Kyle brought her over and put her on my chest....finally I was able to hold & see my baby girl! It was so worth the wait {and all the pain}.

I was in awe of how precious she truly was. And, I still couldn't believe she was here - 2 and a half weeks early. It is by far the best Christmas present I will ever get!

I promise to write more about the Hospital stay, our first night at home and Dafeny's first week of life (I can't believe she's a week old already....she's growing up too fast), but for now, I'm going to go snuggle up with my little one!

Disclaimer - I meant to post this a long time ago (like before Thanksgiving), but I clearly slacked...

This past weekend we had our combined family shower and all I can say is it was AMAZING! We felt so blessed and loved after the shower.

My sister and Mom threw us the shower and they did such a fabulous job. The place was decorated adorably, they made the cutest diaper cake and had a delicious spread of food. Aunts, cousins, sisters and nieces came from all over the area...even through the FIRST SNOW of the year - how awesome (that our family still made the trip, not the snow)!!

I'm going to be the typical "new Mommy" and do a picture post of our precious little bundle of joy! But, don't worry, I'm working on the birth story post...should be up soon (depending on how long Ms. Dafney sleeps)!

First day in the Hospital

First family photo...LOVE ♥♥♥﻿

Such a proud Daddy!﻿

Snuggle time with Daddy!!﻿

Getting ready to head home....not so sure about the car seat, though.﻿

Just looking adorable =)﻿

Hannah isn't so sure about her new baby sister, but soon they'll be good friends!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Can you believe I'm almost considered "full term"!?! How did that happen? I'm still amazed at how fast these past few months have gone by. And to think, next week will already be the middle of December. Yesterday I started the first of my weekly doctor visits.

Yep, you know, the ones where they get up-close and personal with your nether regions.

I did the normal: peed in a cup, stood on the scale (I'm up 16.5 lbs...yikes!), take your blood pressure taken, measure your stomach, hear the heartbeat ♥ (my personal favorite) and then....they checked to see if I was dilated. I have to admit, I was sort of excited to see (not literally, thank-fully) if anything was going on, um, down there, but when she actually went in to check, I thought,

HOLY CRAP...this hurts (okay, maybe not hurt, but was VERY uncomfortable) how am I ever going to get through the actual labor part.

In retrospect {to labor, that is} I'm sure that it was nothing, but I certainly don't look forward to having that done every week. She told me that I was about 2cm dilated...what does that mean? Nothing, really. My body is starting to prep itself for labor (super exciting and scary all at once), but it could happen today, or in 4 weeks...no-one really knows.

I'm still feeling pretty good. Sleeping is rough. Either I can't get comfortable, or my mind is constantly thinking about: contractions, labor, what we still might need for baby, packing our bag, etc. I swear, it never shuts off! Otherwise, I have no real complaints. I'm trying to enjoy these last few weeks of pregnancy all while relaxing and {trying to} taking to take it easy.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

When I woke up at about 3am thinking about anything and everything, it dawned on me that today was the first day ofDECEMBER.

Holy &%^@!

When did it become DECEMBER for gosh sakes? Perhaps the "nice" weather we've been having made me loose track of what month we're in, but it's true, today is December 1st....yikes!

It seems like there is so much that needs to be done before baby arrives. Now, I know that everything doesn't have to be done, but for my own sanity, I sure would like it to be done.

Where do I even begin?! I need to decorate the Christmas tree, finish my birthday/Christmas shopping, clean some stuff up at work, pack our Hospital bag, clean the house, get the car seat {properly} installed...the list goes on and on. There's just so much to do and think about and knowing that things could happen at any time now I think I tend to panic a teeny tiny bit more.

How will I ever keep up with everything once she's actually here (okay, I'll save that panic attack for another day)?!? I just need to continue to remind myself that it will be okay if everything on my list is not crossed off by the time she arrives.

Well, I guess instead of blogging about all the things I have to do, I should probably start doing them...I mean, I only have 31 days left!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

I can't believe another Thanksgiving has already come and gone =( Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the whole year. There's just something about the family gatherings, cold, crisp air, tons of good food and the smell of gingerbread waffling through the house....it makes me so happy! Though our plans changed at the last minute this year, they certainly didn't disappoint!

The day before Thanksgiving, I had my 34 week Dr. Appointment. I hadn't been feeling great that day - I was having some cramping and Braxton Hicks contractions, but nothing crazy.

My cousin (who's house we were supposedto go to for Thanksgiving) emailed me that day saying she wasn't feeling well and that it was up to me if I wanted to chance it and come over the following day. After talking with my Dr. (who told me to take it easy the next couple of days) and taking everything into consideration, I decided to skip out on Thanksgiving at my cousin's (it was a very tough decision).

Feeling super bummed out and really sad to be missing out on all the Thanksgiving festivities, my AWESOME parents came to the rescue! They said they wanted to be with me, my Husband, my sister & her Husband for Thanksgiving, so they decided to get all the yummy Thanksgiving food and bring it to our house so I wouldn't have to travel or do much of anything and I could simply rest. It was truly something to be thankful for.

My parents came over around 11am with loads of delicious food to cook: cornish game hens, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, fruit, meat/cheese tray, dips and of course, pie! We had an amazing little Thanksgiving feast and we spent it with the ones we LOVE ♥ so dearly! By 3pm, everyone had left leaving my & Hubs time to relax. I actually think I followed up the feast with a nice 2 hour nap!

I just can't express how amazing my family is - they do so much for me and I'm so grateful for everything! It certainly makes you think about all the wonderful things in your life....Here are a few things I'm more than thankful for this year (in no particular order):

Family - they are and always have been there for me when I've needed them. They never complain when helping me/us do things around the house or when changing last minute Thanksgiving plans. They are simply amazing!

My Husband - what can I say, I love the guy with all my heart ♥ I grow to love him more and more everyday. He has been my rock throughout this pregnancy and without him, I'm not sure I'd be doing as well as I am. He's an amazing husband and friend and is going to make the most wonderful Daddy!

A warm house - it may not be the biggest or most luxurious house, but it keeps me warm in the winter, cool in the summer and dry when it rains. We've made it ours and for that reason, it's perfect!

A steady income....a.k.a. having a job - though I may not love (or sometimes even like) what I do, it's a job and it brings in a steady paycheck. With this economy there are so many people that can't rely on steady money coming in the door, so I consider myself extremely lucky to have such a reliable job.

Our furbaby, Hannah - she's the most amazing pet ever! Nothing can brighten up my day more than coming home and seeing her happy, wiggly butt at the door to greet me. I love her!!

This pregnancy - I'm so thankful and feel so blessed that Kyle and I are able to experience such a miracle as pregnancy. It's been the most amazing 8 1/2 months and I know what comes next will be even more amazing! There are so many women/couples that aren't able to have children that want one so badly, so I know how truly blessed we are. I'm so thankful that everything has gone so well thus far and look forward to meeting our little one in the next month or so =)

Friends - my Husband and I both have the best friends in the world! My girlfriends have always been there for me through the good & bad times. They've listened to me when I've been upset, they've been there for me when I've cried and they've shared the laughs and good times with me as well. I consider myself beyond lucky to have such amazing people in my life.

These are just a few (of the more important) things that I'm truly thankful for not just at Thanksgiving, but each and every day of the year! I hope everyone had a blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

We've made it another week - making it a whole 34 weeks! I know I say this practically every post, but I cannot believe how fast the time has gone! Just to think that next week is already the start of December...CRAZY!

Everything has gone so well thus far and I'm so thankful. I'm definitely starting to feel the 3rd trimester "symptoms". I can tell I get tired a bit earlier than I have been and I sort of feel like I'm dragging through the day (thankfully it's nothing like the 1st trimester exhaustion). I'm also having a very hard time getting comfortable at night. I toss and turn and when I do fall asleep, I'm usually woken up by my bladder, cramps in my legs or the fact that my hands have fallen asleep. And, by 4am every day, I lay there wide awake. Not sure why, but I just stay in bed and try to "rest", since I know my time is limited =).

I'm not sure if this is common in the 3rd trimester, but I've become super irritable (just ask my poor Husband) - I feel constantly annoyed and find myself snapping at people for no good reason. I feel bad {mostly for my Husband}, but I just can't seem to feel "normal". Hopefully this doesn't continue for another 6 weeks...maybe it's just from lack of sleep and the 4 day weekend will help with my irritability.

I head to my last 2 week Dr. appointment this Wednesday and then I start with the once a weeker's. I will be interested to see if baby is still head down and how much weight I've gained in the past 2 weeks (it's probably a good thing I'm going before Thanksgiving =)). And, I'm really excited to hear her heartbeat - it's the best sound ever!

Even though the past 8 months have gone by fast and I've had an easy pregnancy, I'm really starting to look forward to being done and meeting our baby girl!!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

I feel like I heard so many things about pregnancy and being pregnant, but there are definitely things they never tell you....

They never tell you that morning sickness doesn't happen solely in the mornings, it happens all freakin' day. Whomever made up the term "morning sickness" was totally wrong...it should be changed to "who knows when you're going to be sick, but plan on ALL DAY, EVERY DAY" sickness.

They never tell you how constipated you really will be (TMI, sorry). Seriously, not going #2 for well over a week is just plain wrong. But apparently it's "normal" when you're pregnant.

They never tell you that getting up to pee 3 times a night is also "normal". I like to think of it as Mother Nature's way of preparing you for the 3+ times a night you'll be up with baby. At least getting up to pee only takes a minute and you can crawl back into bed....with a crying baby, not so much.

They never tell you that not being able to "tolerate foods" means (or at least meant for me) the sheer thought of *fill in the blank* would make me want to vomit right then and there.

They never tell you that sleep would literally be your newBEST friend. I knew you would feel "more tired", but in reality it was like someone made me OD on sleeping medicine for about 12 weeks.

They never tell you that seeing somebody lose (or win, for that matter) on Wheel of Fortune would make you bawl like a baby...gotta love {pregnancy} hormones!

They never tell you how amazing it would be tofeel yourbaby kick you for the FIRST time. It is a feeling I will never forget...it was beyond words WONDERFUL!!

They never tell you how fast your pregnancy really goes. It's still hard for me to believe I'm already in myEIGHTHmonth of pregnancy. It feels like just yesterday I was peeing on that little stick.

They never tell you that everyone has unsolicited advice to give you...and of course, they think they arealwaysright.

They never tell you that craving something doesn't mean that you'd like to have *fill in the blank* eventually, it means that you want it right then and there...or you might die. Seriously.

They never tell you about how you will worry about each and every decision you make...wondering how/if it will affect your little one. It's enough to make you crazy, but it's just the start - we'll end up worrying about our little ones as long as we live.

They never tell you to make sure you have an abundant amount of pillows around come the 3rd trimester. Seriously - one for under the belly, one to support your back and one in between your legs...yep, it's true. It makes for a much more comfortable night's sleep!

They never tell you how nice people are to a pregnant lady! I ride the train and bus to & from work, and I can't tell you how many times, I'll be standing and someone will offer me their seat. It's nice to know that there are people like this in the world. And, even at work - if I'm waiting to warm up my lunch, I've had people tell me to go ahead of them because they don't want the "pregnant lady to be hungry". Seriously...awesomeness!

They never tell you how comfortable maternity pantsare. They are about the best pregnancy invention ever! Is it sad that I'd like to continue wearing them even after I've had the baby?!

They never tell you how hard it is to look at Daycare's. I mean, we haven't even met our little one and we're already looking into places to bring her when she's only 3 short months old (excuse me as I wipe the tears from my eyes). I already feel like no-one will EVER be good enough to look after my baby, but I know deep down, it has to happen. I already DREAD the day that we have to drop her off into the care of some stranger...oh my gosh, seriously, I need to wipe these tears away. It's such a HUGE & SCARY decision, but as {soon-to-be} parents I know we will make the best decision for our baby.

They never tell you that the things you're not supposed to eat while pregnant are the things you suddenly CRAVE. I know that some Dr.'s say it's okay to eat certain foods while others say not to, but the common ones that come to mind are: lunch meats, soft cheeses, any sort of meat that's not fully cooked, cookie dough, etc.

They never tell you how often you really will go to the bathroom each day. I probably hit up the bathroom at least 15 times a day. What's worse is that it feels like I've been holding it for hours and then I actually go and it's merely a few drops.

They never tell you that no matter how nervous/scared you are about actually having to give birth, the excitement of meetingyour little one totally takes over! I'm definitely freaking out about the painful contractions/labor part of this whole thing, but just thinking about seeing & meeting our daughter makes me so excited. I can't wait to hold her and snuggle with her and just see what she looks like (adorable, no doubt =)).

They never tell you what a truly amazing experiencepregnancy really is. Sure, it has it's ups and downs, but it's the greatest thing I've ever done on my 31 years here on Earth. I feel so blessed to be able to experience this miracle. The best is yet to come....

Still can't believe that I'm 33 + weeks along. I have one more 2 week appointment and then I start going every week....ahh, mind blowing! Really looking forward to meeting our daughter. It's going to be AMAZING!

Sunday, November 13, 2011

This past weekend, my friends threw me anamazing shower for me and baby Mack. It was completely perfect. There was awesome food & great friends...what more could a {pregnant} lady ask for?! We played a couple baby games (really, what shower is complete without baby games!?), had brunch and opened some gifts.

I can't tell you how blessed I felt on Saturday. This baby girl is one lucky little lady! Sadly, I was so into the shower, that I totally forgot to take pictures =( I promise to take tons of pictures at our family shower this weekend. It was such a fun day and I'm so thankful for everything my friends' did to make this such a specialtime for Kyle, the baby and me.

Once I got home, I showed Kyle everything we received and instantly washed everything so I could put it away. I'm starting to hit "panic mode"and am worried we won't get things done in time for her arrival. I know that most of the stuff is done, but there are a few things that we still need to do before I'll feel completely ready for baby's arrival. I'm hoping we have plenty of time. I can't believe that in FOUR weeks, we'll be "full term". It's crazy and so exciting all at once! I just can't believe how fast the time goes.

Thanks again to my friends for making our baby shower so special. I'm so thankful for everything that was done to make it such a great time and for all the amazing gifts we received. I truly have the very best friends in the world!!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that we are now at 32 weeks! Seriously, where does the time go? I can't believe in just a couple months, we'll be holding our sweet, little angel...it's completely mind blowing!

Things are still going really well. I'm starting to have a harder time moving around. It definitely takes me longer to do things such as walking up the stairs, getting dressed & putting on shoes. However, I'm feeling well and soaking up all of her little kicks, punches, jabs, somersaults and hiccups - because in no time, they'll be gone {even though she'll be doing all that on the outside} and I will certainly miss them!

We're moving along (albeit slowly) on her room and getting the house ready for her. I still have a million things on my "to-do" list, but I'm taking it one day at a time. It doesn't necessarily all have to get done, but I'm hoping to get most of it done (we'll see)! It's been a bit harder since the Hubby is still hobbling around after his knee surgery. I've been trying to take care of him, the dog, the house and oh yeah, me & baby, but I can tell it's a bit wearing at times. But, husband has been working hard on his rehab and is getting around really well. Hopefully by the time baby arrives, he'll be getting around almost as well as he was pre-surgery.

The weekend was fairly uneventful...which is definitely a good thing. Friday morning we had a bit of a mis-hap with our {not so smart} "smart" alarm clock. The alarm went off at 5:40am {as it does every weekday}...I got up, hopped in the shower and started my morning routine as if it were any other Friday. I was planning to take Hubby to work as he had a PT appointment at 7am.

Once I finished up in the bathroom, Husband hopped in the shower. I went to look at my phone (as I do every morning....man we are creature's of habit) and it said 6:50am....WHOA!!! All I could think was, "why would my phone jump ahead an hour?" My initial thought was I messed up the time when I was setting the alarm on in a couple days prior. So, before I completely freaked out, I went into the kitchen to look at our oven & microwave clock.

Both said 6:50.

I just kept thinking: what the heck is going on here? Why would Kyle change the clocks forward when it wasn't even time for Daylight savings, and we're supposed to "fall behind"?. Then it hit me, the other clocks were right and our clock had set itself behind....2 days early. So much for it being a "smart" clock.

I frantically told Kyle what happened and that it was really almost 7am. Thankfully, he was able to move his PT appointment back to 7:30am. We both got ready in about 10 minutes and he made it to his appointment at 7:31am. Not bad considering the time crunch!

Well, in our rush to get out of the house, I forgot to take some meat out for dinner, so we went to plan b and headed out to dinner. I figure we might as well take advantage of that now, while we're child free.

Saturday my parents so generously offered to come over and help us rake our leaves (it's a bit tricky when one of us is hobbling around on crutches and one of us can barely bend over to put their shoes on). Our trees have hardly shed any leaves, but we still managed to rake about 10 bags. After my parents left, I was completely wiped out, so we just laid around, watched TV and were pretty lazy the rest of the day/night.

Sunday, we did some "indoor" chores and just hung out. We did head out to Babies R Us and USA Baby in search of a glider/rocking chair for the baby's room, but didn't have much luck. They both had nice chairs, but the prices were (at least in my opinion) down right outrageous. Thankfully, we've seen some nice gliders at Target for a fraction of the price. Gotta love TARGET.

Anyway, as you can see, we're not the most entertaining people, but I have a feeling that when the baby arrives, we'll have all kinds of fun(ny) stories to share =)

Sunday, October 30, 2011

She might be four-legged & furry, but she's our FURBABY and we celebrate her birthday! Our furbaby turned eight years young on Sunday. We gave her a new toy, a few *extra* treats and loads of pets! We hope for many, many more years with our sweet, adorable furry child =)

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Kyle and I have been married for 492 DAYS! Not that I’m counting or anything…and as cliché as this may sound, I truly fall more in love with him each passing day. We’ve definitely grown a ton in the past 492 days!

Kyle & I met on September 17th, 2004. I had recently moved back home after breaking off an engagement with the biggest piece of crap my now ex. I certainly wasn’t looking for a relationship; in fact, I sort of felt like I was done with boys and relationships for a while. In my mind, boys were the enemy. I was ready to be single, have fun and just be ME for a while.

It was refreshing and for the first time in over a year, I felt happy. On my first weekend back home, a group of my friends decided to head downtown for some drinks, dancing and good times. After the move and all the weird emotions I was feeling, I really needed to consume mass quantities of drinks a few cocktails. Little did I know, that night would form the rest of my life with my now Husband.

Kyle was one of my best friends’ roommates. To be honest, I really didn’t notice him at first {hence, being done with boys}. I remember taking the first cab downtown with a friend, Kyle’s friend and Kyle. We chatted about jobs (at which time, I didn’t have one), how we all knew each other and the typical “small talk”.

After consuming a few beverages, I remember Kyle talking to me quite a bit. He seemed nice, but almost overly interested. He asked me on a date, but I continually said “no”. I just wasn’t ready to jump into the dating scene. I remember he wouldn’t leave me alone, though. The night got a bit hazy and one of the last things that I vividly remember was running into my friends’ room when we got back to their place SOBBING, because of Kyle. Yes, the first time I met Kyle, he MADE.ME.CRY. Honestly, it wasn’t that he was bad, I was just overly emotional and drunk...not a good combination.

…Fast forward a few months. I had hung out with Kyle in group settings, but not really on a “one on one” setting. We “flirted” via text and even when we were together, but neither of us had the “guts” to ask the other out on a date. We started to form that “friends with benefits” vibe, but it was different. I think deep down, we both felt something for one another, but neither of us wanted to admit it.

We were happy with the way things were, so we continued whatever it was. This went on for about a year and a half {keeping in mind that during this time we had numerous talks about dating and relationships and on more than one occasion, he made it very clear that he wasn’t looking for a girlfriend orrelationship…ouch}.

Now, this should have been a red flag for me, but for whatever reason, I couldn’t let him/us go. But, after a year and a half of being “whatever”, I needed to know what we were. Was he my “boyfriend”? Was I his “girlfriend”? Was it {and would it always just be} a “friends with benefits” thing? Was he seeing other people? Did he want to be serious with me? All these questions ran through my head. I had to know where I stood with him. I was scared he didn’t want a relationship and things with us would start to fizzle. I felt nauseous. I was afraid of how the “talk” would affect our friendship. But, I had to know so I worked up the nerve to ask him. Surprisingly, he said the he wanted it to be “official”. I couldn’t believe what he was saying.

5 months later, we moved in together….

On May 4th, 2009 (after 3 years of dating, plus a year and a half of “whatever we were”), Kyle proposed.

It was beyond perfect.

I had absolutely no idea that this was coming. We hadn’t really talked in depth about marriage even though I think we both knew we were ready. In fact a few days earlier, Kyle said something about not wanting to get married until he was into his thirties (he was just 30 at the time). I remember thinking, “well, I guess we won’t be getting engaged anytime soon”. Little did I know.

Anyway, back to the proposal…that day, Kyle told me he was going to have to work late, so imagine my surprise when I got home from work to a note on the door that read: an Leah, come downstairs, I have an early Anniversary present for you {our 3 year Anniversary was the next day}. I cautiously walked in the house, still completely oblivious as to what was about to happen and walked downstairs. To my surprise, there was Kyle, sitting on the couch, candles lit, flowers on the table and Dave Matthews Band playing (my favorite).

He asked me to sit down with him and we chatted about our day and then he started talking about the past 3 years and how he loved me, etc. (still oblivious). He then, got down on one knee, pulled out a gorgeous ring and asked me to marry him. My heart was beating so fast…I couldn’t believe what was happening. And, the first thing out my mouth was “are you serious?”…nice huh? I quickly said YES and the rest is history!

I wanted to call my parents and he said that they already knew as he asked for my Dad’s blessing the weekend before, but they were still so excited when I called them and shared the details. It was one of the most amazing and memorable days of my life.

Friday, October 21, 2011

In order to feel a bit more prepared for the little human we're going to be {or I guess already are} responsible for, we, like most first time parents bought/borrowed some baby books.

It all started back when we were trying to get pregnant. I may have been a teeny-tiny bit obsessed and bought 2 books:

What to Expect Before You're Expecting

In my opinion, the book was filled with all kinds of really helpful tips. We used the Basil Body Temperature method from this book (which I'm sure is in every TTC book). Not only was it informational, it had quite a bit of humor, too. I also liked that it had a whole chapter for the guys. My Husband even read it and thought it was pretty good. I read this book pretty much from cover to cover and found it to be extremely helpful.

Taking Charge of Your Fertility

We, er, I also bought this book while we were in the TTC mode. It was....just okay. I think it had a lot of the same information as the book What to Expect Before You're Expecting, but was a lot drier. I definitely did not read it cover to cover, but read bits and pieces that I thought might be of good use. I almost felt like it was too informational and almost a bit overwhelming. However, I could totally see many couples benefiting from this book!

...fast forward to the "we're pregnant" stage:

Once we found out we were pregnant, I was eager to buy the next book in the "what to expect" series:

What to Expect When You're Expecting

I think I was just so excited to start reading, that I quickly got bored, overwhelmed myself and had little to no interest in reading this book. Though I do pick it up each week and read the "what toexpect this week" portion, I didn't / don't read all the mass amounts of information that is separated out by month.

There is a TON of information in this book and I quickly found that 85% never pertained to me with this pregnancy. However, I will say that there have been times when something weird will happen or I'll have an odd "symptom" and I'll check to see if it's in the book (and 99% of the time it IS), so I'll read up on that specific part. It beats reading up on every little ache, problem, symptom and feeling that may or may not happen to you when you're pregnant.

I also bought this:

Pregnancy Journal and Planner

Sadly, I've hardly even used it. Though it seems like a great way to document each "big moment", Dr. Appointment, weekly thoughts & feelings and questions, it was hard for me to remember to do so.

I think I started off well, but must have gotten lazy come about week 16 {I guess that's what this blog is for, right}. Not only do I wish I would have written in this more often, I wish my Husband would have also put his thoughts & feelings down. It's interesting to see how each of his passing {pregnancy} weeks differed (or were the same) as my weeks. Thankfully it was really inexpensive.

There are a few more books I'd really like to read before baby comes, but we'll see if it actually happens. Any good {baby related} book recommendations?

Thursday, October 20, 2011

1. So recently, my sport loving/playing Husband injured himself. He was playing a friendly game of soccer and ended up injuring his knee. He was in quite a bit of pain and limping around so a couple days later, he decided he’d better get it checked out.

He went to our family Dr.’s office and they said it just seemed bruised. They gave him some exercises to do at home, pain meds and told him to come back if the pain didn’t subside within 2 weeks. Well, 2 weeks later, he was still having trouble and knew something wasn’t quite right. So he headed back to the Dr.’s and this time they sent him to get an MRI. A couple days later we got the results of the infamous MRI and sure enough, he tore his ACL. Awesome.

He saw a specialist the other day and he told him that if he’d ever want to play any sort of sport again, he’d need to have surgery to fix this. Since my Husband loves to play sports, we knew the only option was for him to undergo the “knife”. We debated waiting until after the baby was born and I was able to do things such as carry more than 20lbs (not that I would do this often, but you never know), shovel, etc. But then decided, maybe it would be better for him to have the surgery now before the snow starts to fly since he’ll be hobbling along on crutches for a couple weeks (that wouldn’t be so fun to do in the winter, although, it might be somewhat amusing to watch…).

So, we scheduled the surgery for next Thursday. That means we have 151351 things to get done before the surgery: move the last 2 pieces of furniture out of the baby’s room, clean the carpet, put baby’s furniture together, arrange the room, clean out our “back-room” (aka place where we store all kinds of junk) in our basement so we can put some storage shelves up, rake the leaves, take the garden out, mow the lawn one last time….oh man, the list goes on and on. Therefore, I know how we’ll be spending our weekend….lucky us!! I pray that the surgery goes smoothly and Husband is back on his feet in no time!

2.We finally ordered baby’s furniture on Sunday! It took a lot of contemplating, discussing, measuring and researching before we decided on what would make up our baby’s crib, dresser and changing table. The furniture will be delivered tomorrow, so we are hoping the countless hours spent on the computer comparing and researching was worth it. I can’t wait to see what everything will look like in the baby’s room.

And, I’m really looking forward to being able to start decorating. We’re ordering a wall decal and I plan to get a couple other things for the room to make it “perfect”! It’s really all starting to come together – YEAH!!

3.With only 11 weeks left until we reach the 40 week mark with baby {excuse me while I have a slight panic attack}, I’m definitely starting to freak out a bit over this whole giving birth thing. I’ve tried not to read too much about the actual giving birth part as I know that each childbirth/labor/mother/baby is different, but it’s hard not to focus on the horror stories.

I think part of the reason I’m so scared is because I have absolutely no idea what to expect, other than a fair amount of pain and a precious little baby as the end result. With that, I’m trying to be really open-minded and not have a “birth plan”. Though ideally, I’d LOVE, LOVE, LOVE for her to come on her own {and a week or so early}, I know that she could come late and I may need to be induced, or I may even need a C-section.

The whole idea of not knowing is so hard for me….I’m a planner and I like to know what to expect and when to expect it {side note: I do love surprises, just not the painful-shoot a watermelon baby out your vag kind}. I know the pain, scariness and unknown will all be worth it in the end when we lay eyes on our baby girl (I just have to keep telling myself that). When I get anxious thinking about it, I practice my “breathing”. It actually does help quite a bit…let’s just hope it helps me get through those pesky contractions & the pushing!

Monday, October 17, 2011

We've made it to week 29! As each week passes, I'm more amazed at the little miracle that's growing inside of me. She's getting more and more active with each passing day. I LOVEfeeling her little (or not so "little" anymore) kicks, jabs, twists and turns. The other day, she moved from one side of my belly to the other...the feeling was nothing less than amazing. Also, baby girl gets the hiccups at least twice a day. When I get the hiccups I'm usually annoyed, but these are about the cutest, most sweet little things ever! I absolutely love them!

Last Friday we had our 28 week appointment (somehow, we ended up getting a week behind). I did the normal: peed in a cup, got on the scale (even though the # I saw was a bit scary...I've officially gained 10 pounds so far), had my blood pressure taken and I got a flu shot.

We met with another Dr. and she seemed really nice. It was a very quick visit. She did the measurements and told me that I have a long torso. WAIT....what? Me, a long torso? I'm {barely} 5'2", so finding out that any part of my body is long was a bit of a surprise. We also listened to her beautiful little heartbeat ♥...it simply melts my heart to hear it.

She must not have liked the Dr. pressing down to hear it, because she gave some pretty good kicks...that's our girl =) Dr. said everything sounded and looked good. Now we start seeing the Dr. every two weeks. I still can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone. Other than not sleeping well, I'm still feeling great! Hopefully that lasts another 11 weeks!!

We also ordered baby girl's furniture last night!! It took a lot of research, measuring, and discussing before we finally "pulled thetrigger" and bought the crib, changing table and dresser for our little one. We both LOVE what the furniture looked like online, so hopefully it looks great in her room. I'm really excited to start getting her room put together and all ready for her arrival. Slowly things are starting to come together. I'll post pictures once her room is done (or at least the furniture is in).

Otherwise, our weekend was jam packed for once. Usually you can find me and the Hubby vegging out on the couch watching countless hours of TV, sports & movies. But this past weekend, we hardly did any TV watching {pats on the back for us}!

Friday night we had a friends wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony and a gorgeous reception. I just love weddings! Everything was perfect, including the happily married couple!

Saturday, we met up with some friends at the Afton Apple Orchard for some apple & raspberry picking. It ended up being a gorgeous day and was so nice to spend it with such great company! We look forward to next year when we'll have our little one with us! We also had dinner with some friends that we hadn't seen in months. It was wonderful to see them and their adorable little girl. She's 9 months old and so full of personality!

Last night we went out for a friend's going away party. It was great to see him and a couple other friends. All in all, it was a great weekend even if it was jam packed! We figure we might as well do all these things now while we're not "tied down" with a baby.

I'm hopeful that we'll get a few more things done this weekend in preparation for baby's arrival. We need to desperately clean our back room in our basement, move 2 pieces of furniture out of the baby's room, clean the carpet in the baby's room...the list could go on, but I don't want to overwhelm myself =) I think that's a good start for this weekend!